Route profile
BUF→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Buffalo to Dallas–Fort Worth, 1,212 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 22% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,644 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BUF → DFW arrives on time 76.0% of the time; the return trip, DFW → BUF, arrives on time 61.8% of the time, a 14.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BUF → DFW spends 31.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,212-mile trip: 15.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BUF and 16.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 90% of 4,467 comparable routes.
82.9% on time on a typical Tuesday, against 69.3% on a Sunday.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BUF to DFW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BUF to DFW struggles most at 6 AM: 81.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.9 points behind the 90.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
BUF to DFW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 90.4% | −8.9 pts | 685 here, 152,729 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,212 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
BUF to DFW in context
This route against BUF and DFW as a whole, against similar routes from BUF, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving BUF, BUF to DFW is on time 76.0% of the time, 3.5 points worse than the airport’s other departures at BUF (79.5%, from 62,327 flights).
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
53 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 1,644 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from BUF.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | Some risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 2.07% of the time and diverts 0.73% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,598 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 53 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,644 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why BUF → DFW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for BUF → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 1,629 | 76.0% | 2.09% | -5 min | 8.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.7% against 78.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,644 BUF → DFW flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed